EnE 201 Introduction to EnE

Water and Wastewater Component

F.C. Ballesteros, Jr., Ph.D.
 Introduction
• Why do we need to treat wastewater?
– Domestic and industrial processes use and pollute
water

– Minimise effects of discharge on environment

– Remove pollutants for recycling and/or reuse of

water
 Objectives of WW treatment
• Ensure good water quality in natural
environment
– Remove pollutants most efficiently and
economically
– Avoid or minimise other environmental impacts
like:
• solid disposal
• gas emission
• odour
 Water Quality Criteria:
Traditional Approach
• Based on oxygen balance in receiving water:
• O2 - sources: upstream flow
– photosynthesis (algae etc)
– reaeration (surface)
• O2 - sinks: carbon & nitrogen components
– solids settling and degrading
– plant/animal respiration
– chemical reactions
 Traditional approach
• Focus on point sources
• Mainly concerned with local effect
• Definition of maximum limits (BOD, SS, T, pH, nutrients
etc.)

• Usually concentration limits and total flow rate limit

 Modern approach
• Classification of receiving water based on use:
– A - drinking, environmentally sensitive
– B - bathing, fish-life
– C - navigation, fish-life, agricultural use
– D?
• Definition of stream quality standards for
specific use
 How is this done?
• Estimating effects of non-point (diffuse)
sources eg. storm water, irrigation run-off
• Set minimisation targets and strategies
(catchment management plans etc.)
• Focus on load (freight), not just
concentrations
• Concerned with overall effects on receiving
water body (creek, river, bay…)
 Steps in conducting a wastewater
characterization study
• Identify wastewater sources and flows
• Specify likely key pollutants
• Select suitable sampling strategies
• Measure pollutant concentrations
• Calculate pollutant loads
• Identify main components to be removed
 Sources and flow rates
• Essential step to identify problem area
• How to define sources & flows?
1. Use “systems/mass balance” approach
2. Utilize wastewater audits
3. Anticipate future requirements
4. Reduce > Reuse > Recycle
5. Simple is better than complex
• Source reduction can drastically improve
wastewater situation
 Types of pollutants
• Physical:
– solids, temperature, colour, turbidity, salinity,
odour
• Chemical:
– Organic: carbohydrates, fats, proteins, toxins…
– Inorganic: alkalinity, N, P, S, pH, metals, salts…
– Gaseous: H2S, CH4, O2 …
• Biological: plants (algae, grass, etc.),
microorganisms (bacteria, viruses)
 Measurement techniques
• Physical, chemical or biological methods

• Summary of basic methods in APHA/AWA:

“Standard Methods for the Examination of
Water and Wastewater”
 Solids
• Solids separated by filtration into non/soluble
and by high temperature oxidation into
non/volatile
• Solids often form large percentage of total
organic material
• Solids degradation often slow due to mass
transfer limitations
• Sources: food processing, abattoirs, rural
industries (piggeries etc.), domestic
Solids fraction
What is TSS, VSS and TS in the sample?
• In solids analysis, the following measurements
were obtained:
– Sample size: 50 mL
– After filtration/evaporation:
• 12mg filter cake, 2.5mg solids in filtrate
– After high temperature oxidation: 2.0 mg filter
cake
 Odor
• Often very small amounts cause nuisance (eg.
H2S approx. 10 ppb)

• Physical/chemical measurement difficult

• Olfactometry uses human odour panels

• Olfactometer determines dilution necessary until

no odour detected
 Temperature
• Industrial WW often elevated temperature
– Affects treatment performance of many treatment
systems
• Gas e.g. O2 solubility is lower at higher
temperature
• Effluent temperature usually specified in
licence limits
Temperature
 Salinity
• Affects ecosystems in receiving waters

• Reduces O2 solubility

• Restricts reuse applications (eg. irrigation)

• Critical for downstream water utilisation

• Causes density currents, stratification etc.

Salinity
 color and turbidity
• Colour of ww & biological treatment:
- light brown-gray => fresh, oxic
- dark brown-black => old, anoxic/ana
• Soluble dyes (stains) also cause coloring, very
difficult to remove
• turbidity measures light-transmission
– Caused by colloidal or suspended matter
– Can be correlated with suspended solids
 Organic matter
• Largest component group in most ww: 75 % of
TSS, 40 % of TDS (domestic ww)
• Composition highly industry dependent
• Types:
– Carbohydrates
– Proteins
– oil & grease
– organic toxins (priority pollutants, eg.pesticides)
– others eg. surfactants, dyes etc.
• Mostly biodegradable, some very slowly
 The biomass problem
• Assume 1.0 lb of biomass (CH2O)

454 g (1 mole/30 g) = 15.3 moles

• The amount of O2 in water saturated with air at 25 ° C

is
2.60 x 10-4 mol/L

• The equation for the aerobic degradation of biomass is:

CH2O + O2 === CO2 + H2O
 the biomass problem
• Therefore, one mole of biomass equals one
mole of O2

15.3 moles (1 liter/2.6 x 10-4 mol) = 5.8205 x 104 liters

~ 14,000 gallons of water will be completely

depleted of oxygen by just 1 lb of biomass!
 carbohydrates
• Composition: C, H, O
– Soluble:sugars, alcohols, acids (VFA)
– rapidly biodegradable
– Insoluble: starches, cellulose, fibres (relatively)
slowly biodegradable
• Sources:
– sugar mills, breweries, dairy factories, canneries
etc.
 proteins
• Composition: C, H, O, N (16%), S, P
– Solubility varies with protein type and ww
conditions (eg pH, salt conc. )
• Quite rapidly biodegradable to amino acids
except when insoluble
• Anaerobic degradation creates H2S and other
sulphur components => odour
• Sources: dairy factories, meat processing
(abattoirs), food processing
 Oil and grease
• Composition: C, H, O
– Hydrophobic substances: grease, fat, oil
– Mostly insoluble, floating, easily adsorbed on
surfaces
• slowly biodegradable, even when hydrolysed
to glycerol and fatty acids
• Sources: meat processing, food production,
chemical factories
 Toxics (priority pollutants)
• Organic toxic chemicals, pesticides, herbicides,
solvents, etc.
• Inorganic substances eg. As, Se, heavy metals
(Cd, Cr, Pb, Hg, Ag etc.)
• Normally very low effluent limits
• Sources: chemical factories, metal
manufacturing, tanneries, agriculture, etc.
Cadmium poisoning
Mercury poisoning
Agent orange
DDT effects
 arsenic
• Natural component in many aquifers
– Bangladesh
– consumption of water with levels as low as
0.00017 mg/L (0.17ppb) over long periods of time
can lead to arsenicosis
Arsenic poisoning
 Measurement of organic content
• Mostly overall content measured:
– Total organic carbon: TOC
– Biochemical oxygen demand: BOD
– Chemical oxygen demand: COD
• BOD & COD most commonly used for design
and effluent specifications
• Oil & grease: organic solvent extraction
BOD – biochemical oxygen demand
• BOD: oxygen uptake by microorganism during
aerobic growth in ww sample

• Standard BOD: 5 day incubation @ 20°C

• Samples require a series of dilutions to

achieve suitable oxygen consumption
What is the BOD5 of the sample if the
dilution factor is 20.
What is the ultimate BOD of the
sample
What is the ultimate BOD of the
sample
 Some caveats…
• Only partial degradation of organics
• Cannot be used for mass balancing
• Very high (>1000mg/L) and very low
(<10mg/L) values often unreliable
• Industrial wastewater can contain inhibitors,
leading to low BOD results
• Nitrification needs to be inhibited to avoid
measuring partial oxidation of NH4+
Effect of nitrogen on BOD
 COD – chemical oxygen demand
• Also measures oxygen required, but for
chemical oxidation of organics
• COD: chemical oxidants used for oxidation of
organics to CO2, H2O & NH3
• Standard COD: K2Cr2O72- /H2SO4 @ 145°C
• During oxidation dichromate is used up and
remaining oxidant is measured
spectrophotometrically to determine oxidant
used
COD – chemical oxygen demand
 Theoretical cod calculation
• For example, glucose (or other carbohydrates):
C6H12O6 + 6O2 = 6CO2 + 6H2O

180g/mol 6*32g/mol (molecular weights)

COD = 192g O2/180g gluc = 1.07 gCOD/g gluc

• Useful to estimate COD content or demand
• COD can be balanced over any bio-chemical
reaction as it measures electron demand
 Exercise
• Is COD or BOD generally the higher value and
in which case can it be different?

• What is the COD content of a 200mg/l

solution of ethanol in water?

• During biological treatment, how does

generally the ratio of COD/BOD change?
 Rule of thumb
• Equivalent person (EP): average wastewater
amount produced per person
• Typically 1 EP equivalent to 200-250 l/d per
person for domestic households
• Average Dry Weather Flow (ADWF): average
flow over 7 days without rain
• Peak Dry Weather Flow (PDWF): maximal flow
during day (1.5-3 x ADWF)
Diurnal flow pattern
 Sampling
• Grab
• Composite
– Reduces analysis costs and levels out concentration
fluctuations
– Composite samples should be taken proportional to
flow
– Individual samples can be collected and composited
later
– Ensure appropriate sample conservation/storage from
sampling time until analysis
Sample preservation (from Std. Methods)
 Exercise on nitrogen units
1. Wastewater with 54 mg/L NH4+ is fully
nitrified; how much NO3- -N is generated?
2. How does the TKN concentration in the above
example change?
3. How much is the Total Nitrogen reduced?
4. During denitrification, 50% of the NO3- -N is
removed as N2; how does this change the TKN
and TN concentrations?
 Exercise on nitrogen units
5. In a wastewater sample, the total nitrogen is
equal to the Kjeldahl nitrogen - True/False ?
6. A sample has: organic-N = 10 mg/l; NH4+-N =
35mg/l; NO3--N = 3 mg/l. What is the TKN of this
sample?
7. What is actually measured when determining the
Kjeldahl nitrogen ? Why does this provide the
TKN?
8. If 50mg/l NH4--N is added to a sample which has
a COD of 125 mg/l, what will the new COD be?